Zen: Simply Sitting: A Zen Monk's Commentary on the Fukanzazengi Universal Guide on the Correct Practice of Zazen

By Philippe Coupey and Rei Ryu Philippe Coupey

Long-time Zen teacher Philippe Coupey offers readers a fresh, sometimes irreverent, perspective of an ancient classic -- the Fukanzazengi, a short basic text on how to practice zazen, written by the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1890772615
• ISBN13: 9781890772611
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Hohm Press
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Not for a novice, somewhat "deep"

I came from a Hindu meditative background with the desire to familiarize myself wit Zazen. This is a deep read for a beginner. It introduces the reader to the foundation and context of the Way, practice, and discipline but with a lot of narrative versus instruction that I was looking for (I am a very cognitive - linear learner). Perhaps there is nothing to look for here and it's all about simply sitting. Ill definitely have to re-read this and reference another book that came highley recommended to me. I intended to give this book 3 stars, not 5.

Zen: Simply Sitting

We heartily welcome the publication of these commentaries on Master Dogen's Fukanzazengi by Rei Ryu Philippe Coupey. The publication of this book in English should contribute to bringing the valuable teachings of the excellent Japanese Soto Zen master Taisen Deshimaru and his living, contemporary disciples in the West, to the wider attention of Zen practitioners in the U.S. The relative paucity of English-language works from within this particular Zen lineage on the American book market has been one of the factors in the undeserved low profile that this important 20th-century Zen teacher from the Kodo Sawaki lineage has suffered on the American Zen scene. We are hopeful that Rei Ryu's lucid, refined, and mature commentaries--undoubtedly the precious harvest of his several decades of continuous and loving dedication to his master's message and broader Zen mission in the West--will touch the hearts of readers on this side of the Atlantic, sparking here the Way-seeking mind and an interest in and commitment to true Soto Zen practice. Dogen's basic guide to zazen practice, his Fukanzazengi, was one of the first of his writings, produced soon after his arrival back in Japan from China in the 13th century with the essence of Soto Zen practice, and the work was aimed at promoting zazen widely across society, and not limited solely to some monastic minority. In this book, which is richly supplemented with a useful glossary of terms, Coupey takes Dogen's text virtually sentence by sentence and then provides very apropos and memorable commentaries and background that not only vivify and enrich the points of the original text, but also properly orient us Western newcomers to zazen and nourish us helpfully in its practice. The reader--and more relevantly, the earnest practitioner following the guidance communicated in this potent guidebook--will taste the deep and unmistakable flavor of the genuine Zen practice promoted some eight centuries ago by Dogen Zenji in Japan, and more recently and so dynamically by Master Taisen Deshimaru in the latter decades of the 20th century in Western Europe, who left there a rich and expansive legacy of Soto Zen practice and dedicated elder practitioners, of whom Coupey is certainly among the primary ones. This contemporary teacher is uniquely able to bridge the language barriers and bring Master Deshimaru's rich teaching and wisdom readily to an English-speaking readership, thus furthering Dogen Zenji's original intent to promote zazen practice universally among laypersons and monastics alike.